Don't forget that if you are using AC, you will at some point pay for the AC to remove all of the heat your 750W dehumidifier put into the air.
How do you operate your basement humidifier?
- Thread starter JHZR2
- Start date
- Status
One way to save money is to meticulously seal out moisture from the basement. I don't have a basement here, but I have my crawl space so well sealed, the pipes don't gather condensate in the summer. I have the floor covered with plastic going up the walls, the block walls cover with cement based paint, and the plate and band joists caulked. Retro fitting a basement that wasn't done right will be tougher, especially if it is finished. You have 2 sources of moisture, coming in through the floor and walls from the ground and warm, moist air from outside hitting the surfaces cooled by the ground. Do whatever you can to seal both out.
Likely it violates code, but the only ventilation I have in the crawl space is the vent I had to add for the furnace to draw right. Another code violation, I close the damper to it in the summer. I also have the walls insulated. The crawl space is dry year around, warm in winter, and cool in the summer. I also have the floor above caulked and sealed. In the winter, warm, moist air can't follow the plumbing and wiring to the attic and condense there.
Likely it violates code, but the only ventilation I have in the crawl space is the vent I had to add for the furnace to draw right. Another code violation, I close the damper to it in the summer. I also have the walls insulated. The crawl space is dry year around, warm in winter, and cool in the summer. I also have the floor above caulked and sealed. In the winter, warm, moist air can't follow the plumbing and wiring to the attic and condense there.
brianl703,
Gary didn't mean running a dehumidifier and A/C at the same time. The point about the dehumidifier is that it functions exactly like an A/C: cooling and removing water vapor from the surrounding air. The A/C then dumps this absorbed heat outside your home. This is where a dehumidifier is different. It dumps the absorbed heat right back into the same surrounding air. The net result is warmer surrounding air that is less humid.
Gary's logic is to remove the wasteful generated heat from the equation and just utilize the natural dehumidification properties of the house's A/C unit.
Gary, I think you may be on to something. Other than the radon, the only other drawback I can think of is that it's a seasonal solution for me.
[ August 21, 2006, 10:53 PM: Message edited by: Razl ]
Gary didn't mean running a dehumidifier and A/C at the same time. The point about the dehumidifier is that it functions exactly like an A/C: cooling and removing water vapor from the surrounding air. The A/C then dumps this absorbed heat outside your home. This is where a dehumidifier is different. It dumps the absorbed heat right back into the same surrounding air. The net result is warmer surrounding air that is less humid.
Gary's logic is to remove the wasteful generated heat from the equation and just utilize the natural dehumidification properties of the house's A/C unit.
Gary, I think you may be on to something. Other than the radon, the only other drawback I can think of is that it's a seasonal solution for me.
[ August 21, 2006, 10:53 PM: Message edited by: Razl ]
Think about it this way: 700 watts (if that's what a particular dehumidifier takes) is a lot of heat. A space heater on full blast is about 1500 watts.
Do you want a 700 watt space heater running in your house during summer?
I agree with Gary: better to run AC, if that's an option.
Do you want a 700 watt space heater running in your house during summer?
I agree with Gary: better to run AC, if that's an option.
The dehumidifier in the basement makes a lot of sense if you don't have central A/C. That was the setup we had in our old house. Without it the basement was uncomfortably cool and damp. With the dehumidifier going, it was warmer and drier providing a comfortable retreat on warm summer days. With central air, it is best to let the system pull the moisture out of the basement and dump the heat outside. Either way, the route to saving energy and money is to seal things up not letting moisture in from either the ground or the outside air. Venting outside air into a basement is a loser.
Adding heat and removing humidity in a basement that is cool and damp is a good thing. Its more efficient to do this with a humidifier than to send that humidity outside by bringing cool air conditioned air from upstairs. You would then need to be continuing to bring humid air in from outside as makeup. This would be an open cycle and very inefficient.
Funny, that's not how my AC works. Cold, dehumidified air is pushed into the basement and air from the basement goes into the return.
Barring duct leakage to the exterior, there is no air being sucked from outside to make up anything.
I have no idea what sort of setup would purposefully have outside air being sucked into the house to make up for conditioned air being sent into the basement. It doesn't sound like a good idea.
Barring duct leakage to the exterior, there is no air being sucked from outside to make up anything.
I have no idea what sort of setup would purposefully have outside air being sucked into the house to make up for conditioned air being sent into the basement. It doesn't sound like a good idea.
I'm kinda in the same boat. My house didn't have A/C in the basement, but I pulled a couple of ducts off and aimed them in the basement. The duct vents had dressers over them anyway, so they weren't doing any good in the house. I love my 68* shop.
For basements that have central air supplies in the basement thats an option.. I don't have whole house. But I believe that dehumidifying a whold basement using a whole house A/C would be enormously costly. ..compared to running a 6 amp dehumidifier for 10 hours or so.
A basement is fine at at 55% to 60% hummidity a house isn't.
Humidity is going to be less of a problem in a basement with the more modern construction with a plastic sheet under the slab and insulated walls. The layer of foam between the foundation and plate also helps seal moisture outside.
OK, I think I've "fixed" my constant (co$tly) on/off cycling issue with the dehumidifier's electronic humidity sensor/hydrometer. With the case removed, I could clearly see that this sensor was clipped onto the cooling fins.
I guess the engineers thought locating the sensor in the air intake passage would provide the most accurate reading. Well, I think they are wrong. Airflow is good, sure, but right at the cooling coils/fins? They are constantly wet, creating a near 100% humidity environment when the fan shuts off. Geez, no wondering it was cycling on and off few minutes.
The line from the senor was long enough to route it outside the unit, so now it just kind of dangles in the air. So far, it seems to be doing the trick. I set the humidity to 65% and the sensor reads 60%, and it has not turned on for over an hour
I hooked the kill-a-watt meter back up to it so I'll report back in a day or two with my findings.
I guess the engineers thought locating the sensor in the air intake passage would provide the most accurate reading. Well, I think they are wrong. Airflow is good, sure, but right at the cooling coils/fins? They are constantly wet, creating a near 100% humidity environment when the fan shuts off. Geez, no wondering it was cycling on and off few minutes.
The line from the senor was long enough to route it outside the unit, so now it just kind of dangles in the air. So far, it seems to be doing the trick. I set the humidity to 65% and the sensor reads 60%, and it has not turned on for over an hour
I hooked the kill-a-watt meter back up to it so I'll report back in a day or two with my findings.
JHZR2
Staff member
Great! Im going to do that this afternoon on the dehumidifier in the large section of my basement. Certainly should help!
Thanks!
JMH
Thanks!
JMH
After being in the house awhile I checked out the crawl space during the rainy season, and was puzzled by the very flat plastic sheet down there. Turns out it was floating on water.
A lot of work later, penance for my earlier life I guess :^), I had a sump pump installed, and thr crawl space was completely sealed from the sill down. A dehumidifier ran continuosly for over two weeks before hitting it's set point, and then over the next couple of months the posts all checked very badly so I had to replace all of them. I guess I was very bad in my youth :^) Now the dehumidifier runs once once in ahwhile, the area doesn't have that moldy smell, and there are no more critters living down there.
A lot of work later, penance for my earlier life I guess :^), I had a sump pump installed, and thr crawl space was completely sealed from the sill down. A dehumidifier ran continuosly for over two weeks before hitting it's set point, and then over the next couple of months the posts all checked very badly so I had to replace all of them. I guess I was very bad in my youth :^) Now the dehumidifier runs once once in ahwhile, the area doesn't have that moldy smell, and there are no more critters living down there.
- Status
